Confirmed Signing with Link: Oilers decline to match offer sheets for Broberg and Holloway

[Guess]

Armstrong and Bowman have had a long running feud for ages. It's pretty unbelievable that he just so happens to issue two offer sheets to two guys that haven't accomplished much of anything from a team that hired the guy he just so happens to have a rivalry with. I don't care if it IS personal, but at least have the balls to say so. This isn't just happenstance.

I don't care why the Blues did what they did. What I am saying is that every competitive team finds themselves in a similar position to Edmonton where cap space gets tight and RFA negotiations drag out. Most of them get away with it because there's an unspoken rule that offer sheets are faux pas. Armstrong ignored that, which is all well and good, but he'd better be real careful to not find himself in the same position. It won't go well.


The cats were drunk on catnip for a week before they remembered these games were kind of important.

Armstrong will probably already be retired by the time Edmonton has enough cap space to do what he just did.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Armstrong will probably already be retired by the time Edmonton has enough cap space to do what he just did.

He already said this morning something along the lines of that he's going to make extra sure he has enough cap space to sign his good young free agents (whoever those are), so clearly it's on his mind.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

He already said this morning something along the lines of that he's going to make extra sure he has enough cap space to sign his good young free agents (whoever those are), so clearly it's on his mind.

It should have always been on any competent GM’s mind.

 

[SirPaste]

He already said this morning something along the lines of that he's going to make extra sure he has enough cap space to sign his good young free agents (whoever those are), so clearly it's on his mind.

Not really, that's just what competent GMs always do

 

[RORbacon]

Great, and their fans aren't allowed to be upset about it or hope for retribution either?

The Blues are the bad guy here. Embrace that role. The "f***ed around" phase is always fun. It's the "finding out" part that's not fun for anyone.

You can hope for retribution all you want. I don't really care. Fact is, EDM put themselves into a position to be bent over the table and the Blues reaped the benefits. If they're after retribution in the future, even better! Operating on that mindset, opposed to trying to build a better team, seems a great recipe for future success. But, highly doubtful any NHL GM operates that way, that's just fan-fiction.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Armstrong and Bowman have had a long running feud for ages. It's pretty unbelievable that he just so happens to issue two offer sheets to two guys that haven't accomplished much of anything from a team that hired the guy he just so happens to have a rivalry with. I don't care if it IS personal, but at least have the balls to say so. This isn't just happenstance.

I don't care why the Blues did what they did. What I am saying is that every competitive team finds themselves in a similar position to Edmonton where cap space gets tight and RFA negotiations drag out. Most of them get away with it because there's an unspoken rule that offer sheets are faux pas. Armstrong ignored that, which is all well and good, but he'd better be real careful to not find himself in the same position. It won't go well.


The cats were drunk on catnip for a week before they remembered these games were kind of important.

Armstrong isn't going to be the GM of the Blues after the 25-26 season.

It's been pretty widely reported that they waited for the timing of when they did to avoid Edmonton gaining an Arbitration Buyout window.

I'm also not sure what long running feud for ages you are hinting at aside from their teams being rivals. I'm not sure that competition alone builds long running feuds like you seem to have concocted.

I get that you're upset about the situation. But you really need to be upset at Edmonton's front office for being so poorly positioned to absorb this. All teams are generally tight to the cap. Edmonton was literally over the cap and would have had to have a shortened roster to even start the season prior to this even with Kane going on LTIR - which they would've had to make a move when he came back which probably would've been even more problematic.

 

[Pengu]

The Oliers overall probably did the right thing not to match.
BUT the fact that it reached this stage was a huge failure by the Oilers.
Horrible development and lowballing offers is a manual how not to develop 1st round picks....

 

[RORbacon]

He already said this morning something along the lines of that he's going to make extra sure he has enough cap space to sign his good young free agents (whoever those are), so clearly it's on his mind.

I mean yes. Signing your own players SHOULD be on the damn GMs mind. I guess that's how EDM ended up in this situation. Must think differently over there.

 

[BleedBlue14]

I hate Bowman, and hated his hire.

Karma is indeed a bitch, and she takes notes and has a very long memory.


Great, and their fans aren't allowed to be upset about it or hope for retribution either? Do the Stars not value Harley or the Devils not value Mercer because negotiations are taking awhile?

The Blues are the bad guy here. Embrace that role. The "f***ed around" phase is always fun. It's the "finding out" part that's not fun for anyone.

Both these teams have adequate space to sign the guy unless a team wants to throw a 1st their way. Something Edmonton disregarded. They also don't have a team full of NMC/NTC guys that make it a jumbled mess trying to get to the cap space needed.

 

[Three On Zero]

He already said this morning something along the lines of that he's going to make extra sure he has enough cap space to sign his good young free agents (whoever those are), so clearly it's on his mind.

Sounds more like a dig at JJ and Bowman than it is him being worried about offer sheets.

 

[deytookerjaabs]

Last time Bowman got double offer sheets he made the right decision on both players (Niemi/Hjalmarsson).

There's a good chance he made the right decision again and he's got a knack for getting solid players outside the first round.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

You can hope for retribution all you want. I don't really care. Fact is, EDM put themselves into a position to be bent over the table and the Blues reaped the benefits. If they're after retribution in the future, even better! Operating on that mindset, opposed to trying to build a better team, seems a great recipe for future success. But, highly doubtful any NHL GM operates that way, that's just fan-fiction.

You don't think that people can do both? We're trying to build a team that can contend for a Cup again. That's part of the reason we're so pissed off about this.

Brian Burke has hated Kevin Lowe for two decades and threatened to fight him in a barn over an offer sheet. If you think that old hockey dude GMs are just going to shrug their shoulders and forgive and forget, you're maybe not a fulltime fan of the sport.

 

[Bond]

by having cap issues? Half the teams in the league have cap issues.

None of those other teams created a situation like Edmonton did. They let Broberg and Holloway hang in the wind and then capped themselves out July 1st with older forwards. That is outside of Brown's terrible contract or playing Broberg just enough to qualify for an offersheet.

 

[Three On Zero]

You don't think that people can do both? We're trying to build a team that can contend for a Cup again. That's part of the reason we're so pissed off about this.

Brian Burke has hated Kevin Lowe for two decades and threatened to fight him in a barn over an offer sheet. If you think that old hockey dude GMs are just going to shrug their shoulders and forgive and forget, you're maybe not a fulltime fan of the sport.

With reports that multiple teams were ready to offer sheet Broberg, I doubt this “old boys club” mentality is as strong as you perceive it to be

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Both these teams have adequate space to sign the guy unless a team wants to throw a 1st their way. Something Edmonton disregarded. They also don't have a team full of NMC/NTC guys that make it a jumbled mess trying to get to the cap space needed.

The Stars have adequate space to sign Harley if he takes a team friendly / no state tax discount. 6.25 isn't really a lot for a defenceman of his caliber, particularly with guys out where saucing Philip Broberg triple what he's worth.

Dallas also has 7 NTC/NMC's. Edmonton has 8.

 

[1909]

Who’s gonna play D for Edmonton ?

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Who’s gonna play D for Edmonton ?

How’s your skating?

 

[Bond]

Both these teams have adequate space to sign the guy unless a team wants to throw a 1st their way. Something Edmonton disregarded. They also don't have a team full of NMC/NTC guys that make it a jumbled mess trying to get to the cap space needed.

They also don't have another RFA that can also be signed to an offersheet to leverage the situation.

 

[Stelmacki]

I hate Bowman, and hated his hire.

Karma is indeed a bitch, and she takes notes and has a very long memory.


Great, and their fans aren't allowed to be upset about it or hope for retribution either? Do the Stars not value Harley or the Devils not value Mercer because negotiations are taking awhile?

The Blues are the bad guy here. Embrace that role. The "f***ed around" phase is always fun. It's the "finding out" part that's not fun for anyone.

You seem very confused. The Blues are the Bad guys here to edmonton*. The rest of the league isn’t shedding any tears for you. You’re in the “finding out stage” right now after “****ing around” with your cap space and young players.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

None of those other teams created a situation like Edmonton did. They let Broberg and Holloway hang in the wind and then capped themselves out July 1st with older forwards. That is outside of Brown's terrible contract or playing Broberg just enough to qualify for an offersheet.

Lots of teams have unsigned RFA's. Holloway has 9 career goals and Broberg has 3 career points fewer than Ty Emberson. They were left to "hang in the wind" because we were busy signing a (bad) GM and trying to lock down Draisaitl long term.

The Blues were lurking in the weeds and took advantage of that. I actually think they're going to regret that Broberg contract, but we'll see.

If leaving RFA negotiations for the end of august is stupid, then the Leafs, Devils, Stars, and Kraken are stupid too.

 

[BleedBlue14]

The Stars have adequate space to sign Harley if he takes a team friendly / no state tax discount. 6.25 isn't really a lot for a defenceman of his caliber, particularly with guys out where saucing Philip Broberg triple what he's worth.

Dallas also has 7 NTC/NMC's. Edmonton has 8.

I don't disagree with you. But most teams with cap space currently are teams that aren't projected to be competing, the risk of losing a 1st is a pretty significant pill to swallow while overpaying for the player. 6.25 for 2 seasons for Harley is probably fair.

Dallas could also pretty easily get out of Marchment's contract if they had to.

 

[super6646]

Why did they trade Ceci if they never planned to match? Ik he has a reputation, but he's still a serviceable top 6d. Strange.

 

[belfour30]

Edmonton fans, do you know if Mark Kelley will be involved with scouting now that Bowman is GM? Just out of curiosity.

 

[HarrySPlinkett]

Offer sheets happen at a rate of about one successful one per decade.

Two tendered to one team is predatory. The GM community is an old boys club and Armstrong just spat on that.

Might take awhile, but make absolutely no mistake about it, the Blues earned themselves an enemy with this move and Edmonton will absolutely look to put the screws to them one way or another, 3rd round pick and a B prospect apology or not.

Lol “Predatory”.

Keep your head up, kids.

 

[rynryn]

are some people actually mad about this? Blues just picked up a couple decent young pieces. I do not like the Blues at all but this is just smart of them.